Dolphins Prepare to Fight for Second Win

The Miami Dolphins aren’t exactly fooling much of anyone this year. Sure, they were able to beat the snot out of the Oakland Raiders last week, but that game came in a perfect storm of a scheduling spot for Oakland. The team had just played on Monday Night Football the week before, and it had to travel all the way across the country to take on the Dolphins just five days later in their home opener. Any somewhat respectable franchise would have won that game and won it by a healthy margin.

This week, the Dolphins are +2 ½ for the NFL odds against the New York Jets, and for good reason.

Remember, when you look at this Miami team, you don’t exactly see a club that is going to jump off of the page at you. QB Ryan Tannehill is what he is this year: He’s a guy who is going to have a low completion percentage with more picks than touchdowns, and it isn’t all his fault. He has just no receivers to work with, as WR Brian Hartline isn’t striking fear in anyone’s secondary.

Most of all, RB Reggie Bush isn’t going to carry the ball 20 times per game as he has averaged this year, and he isn’t going to run for nearly 2,000 yards as he is on pace for this year.

Enter: New York. The Jets are desperate to get back to their winning ways, as QB Mark Sanchez is under the gun and has QB Tim Tebow right on his backside for the starting quarterback job. Sanchez can’t afford another big time loss like he had last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers either, knowing that he is going to be under the scrutiny of the New York media in a huge way if he does.

Just as last week, Miami held all of the cards in its hands when it took on the Raiders, this week, all of the cards have shifted to the Jets, who should be able to take care of one of the worst teams that the NFL has to offer.